Sophia's War: A Tale of the Revolution

by Avi

Hardcover, 2012

Status

Available

Call number

J4E.Avi

Publication

Beach Lane Books (First Edition)

Pages

302

Description

In 1776, after witnessing the execution of Nathan Hale in New York City, newly occupied by the British army, young Sophia Calderwood resolves to do all she can to help the American cause, including becoming a spy.

Description

In 1776, young Sophia Calderwood witnesses the execution of Nathan Hale in New York City, which is newly occupied by the British army. Sophia is horrified by the event and resolves to do all she can to help the American cause. Recruited as a spy, she becomes a maid in the home of General Clinton, the supreme commander of the British forces in America. Through her work she becomes aware that someone in the American army might be switching sides, and she uncovers a plot that will grievously damage the Americans if it succeeds. But the identity of the would-be traitor is so shocking that no one believes her, and so Sophia decides to stop the treacherous plot herself, at great personal peril: She’s young, she’s a girl, and she’s running out of time. And if she fails, she’s facing an execution of her own.

Master storyteller Avi shows exactly how personal politics can be in this “nail-biting thriller” (Publishers Weekly) that is rich in historical detail and rife with action.

Bibliography.

Collection

Barcode

1076

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2012

Physical description

302 p.; 8.5 inches

ISBN

9781442414419

Lexile

730L

User reviews

LibraryThing member brangwinn
Oh, Avi. I'm waiting for a book as compelling as THE TRUE CONFESSIONS of CHARLOTTE DOYLE. Sophia's got a lot of moxie. She's brave and does an excellent job showing how women, often overlooked by the men of colonial America, were able to penetrate the British military world and gather important
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information to help the American forces. You've done an excellent job working real people like Nathan Hale, John Andre, and Benedict Arnold into her personal world. And for that I applaud you. I am recommending this book for students studying the American Revolution, particularly as its only book which builds a great story in Manhattan controlled by the British. But please Avi, bring me another Charlotte Doyle. Untl then, I do find Sophia a satisfying realistic character.
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LibraryThing member SamanthaMulkey
This was a really great story about a brave girl on the side of the americans during the revolutionary war. It is a very ggod story, full of suspense and action. She is constantly torn between both sides. I would definately share this book with 6th graders on up.
LibraryThing member Shoshanabrmsn
This story begins with Sophia in 1776 in New York City, shortly after the British invade the U.S, young Sophia witnesses a hanging and decides she is going to do everything she can to protect her country. She is recruited by a spy and then finds out one of the fellow soldiers maybe thinking about
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committing treason and switching sides to the enemies. Later the plot thicken's when Sophia realizes she maybe in trouble herself.
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LibraryThing member loross
The way the book is structured it is in 3 parts. I liked how this was done because it focused on different aspects of the same story in the different sections. In addition, there are time gaps between the sections, which shows the narrators growth as a person. The words were very authentic to the
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time period, and a vocabulary list is provided at the back of the book, which is very helpful! There was a good representation of the time period through the setting descriptions, as well as the descriptions of people (British and American), highlighting how not all enemy fighters are evil themselves, and how some of your heroes may not be what they seem. I loved reading it!
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LibraryThing member Sullywriter
A superbly written, completely engaging historical novel. Pair this one with Steve Sheinkin's Notorious Benedict Arnold.
LibraryThing member childrenslitpdx
Sophia's War is a compelling story of the Revolutionary War, as told through the eyes of Sophia, just 12 years old when the story begins. The book is split into two parts, first telling the life of Sophia the child, before moving onto Sophia as a young woman. The author does a great job of making
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sure that the writing and the speech is of the times, and, as I happened upon them every so often, I enjoyed figuring out what an old phrase or word meant in it's context. I found the story to be gripping and never dull, and enjoyed the true historical elements that were weaved into it as well, which actually led me to do a little research on the Revolutionary War.
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LibraryThing member jothebookgirl

Sophia's War: a Tale of the Revolution
In 1776, the War of Independence comes to New York City, and to twelve-year-old Sophia Calderwood’s family. William, her older soldier brother, was convinced by his friend to join the war. Now he has been missing since the defeat of George Washington’s Army
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at the Battle of Brooklyn.

When the British occupy the city, Lieutenant John André of the English Army, is billeted at the Calderwood home. He and Sophia develop a flirtatious friendship, which is tested when the girl discovers that William is being held in The Sugarhouse, a notorious British prison with deplorable living conditions. She hopes André can help. When he chooses not to, Sophia struggles to save her brother herself. William dies while on a prison ship. Now Sophia will sped her days avenging her brothers death, because she knows Andre could have saved him if he had chosen it fi so.

Three years later, Sophia becomes a spy in the headquarters of the British Army. There she finds André, now a Major, working to enable a highly placed American General become a traitor, a treason that will endanger the whole American war effort. Deciding to stop the treason—and motivated by personal revenge—Sophia becomes desperate. However, as Sophia learns, desperation’s other name is deception. Indeed, the desperate characters in this thrilling tale of spies and counter-spies, act out many acts of deception, not least by Sophia herself.

Based on true tales of the Revolution, carefully researched, this story will shock and enthrall even those who think they know what happened during this period of our nation's history.
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LibraryThing member 406jenn
Avi like Ann Rinaldi is very good writer about historical fiction for the young reader 10-14. This is a take on the Revolutionary War while in New York City when it was New Amsterdam through the eyes of a young girl, Sophia. We see first hand how grueling the War was on it colonies especially when
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the British would take over someone's home and/or destroy it if they were non-Tory.
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LibraryThing member taralentz
Sophia watches the hanging of Nathan Hale in New York which prompts her to want to be on the side of America. Sophia and her mother arrive home to find it looted and British soldiers come to question them about her father and tell them they will be housing soldiers in their house. Sophia's father
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returns and her brother is still missing, but later they found out he is a prisoner. Sophia works at a printing shop to earn money for her family and to bribe people to free her brohter. She becomes a maid in General Clintons home to spy and finds out that the British forces have a traitor in the American army.
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Rating

½ (51 ratings; 3.7)

Call number

J4E.Avi
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